Editing Slutsk (section)

===Massacre of Jews===
During the German occupation of Slutsk, the Jewish inhabitants were systematically targeted for killing.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Untold Stories - Slutsk|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=244|website=Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center}}</ref> The first Jewish victims were killed in the garden on Monakhov Street during the initial days immediately following the arrival of the Germans on 27 June 1941. The victims numbered between 70 and 120, according to different sources.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Garden on Monakhov Street in Slutsk|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/murderSite.asp?site_id=206|website=Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center}}</ref>

[[File:Ghetto Slutsk 2d.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Holocaust victims]]
Four months later, on 27 and 28 October 1941, one of the largest single massacres occurred, known as the [[Slutsk affair]], when Jews were herded towards pits in the Gorovakha ravine, approximately {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of Slutsk, where they were shot. According to German sources the total number of victims was 3,400, while Soviet sources cite 8,000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gorovakha Ravine|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/murderSite.asp?site_id=207|website=Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center}}</ref> These killings were carried out by two companies of the German 11th Reserve [[Order Police battalions|Order Police Battalion]] and the Lithuanian 2nd Battalion, which was a German-sponsored [[Schutzmannschaft]] or Auxiliary Police formation established in [[Kaunas]], soon after the Nazi occupation of [[Lithuania]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=MacQueen|first=Michael|date=2004|title=LITHUANIAN COLLABORATION IN THE "FINAL SOLUTION"|url=https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Publication_OP_2005-07-03.pdf|website=CENTER FOR ADVANCED HOLOCAUST STUDIES UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM|page=5}}</ref>

A further massacre was carried out over several days during the spring of 1942, when the inhabitants of the "field ghetto" of Slutsk were taken to the forest near the village of Bezverkhovichi, {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of Slutsk, where they were shot or murdered in gas vans. According to survivors, the victims were driven to the execution site in two to four trucks on Mondays and Saturdays. The last Jews of the field ghetto were murdered on the [[Passover]], 2–3 April 1942. The total number of Jews murdered at Bezverkhovichi is estimated to have been between 3,000 and 4,000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bezverkhovichi (Gas Vans)|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/murderSite.asp?site_id=212|website=Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center}}</ref>

One of the last significant massacres of Jews occurred on 8 February 1943, with the liquidation of the "town ghetto" of Slutsk. The Jews were driven in trucks to the former estate of Mokhart, popularly called Mokharty, {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} east of Slutsk, where they were shot from behind in mass graves by personnel of the [[Minsk]] security police office. During the liquidation, some Jews fought back, shooting at the German and Latvian soldiers. In response, the Germans burnt the ghetto to the ground. Postwar court proceedings cite a minimum of 1,600 victims, of which 1,200 were murdered at the graves at Mokharty, the rest in the ghetto itself.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Former Mokharty Estate|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/murderSite.asp?site_id=213|website=Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center}}</ref>